Share this with

Finnish newspaper Urheilu made their tactics very clear (Picture: Urheilu)

Finland’s players were urged to ‘park the bus’ in their World Cup qualifier against Spain, with a none-too-subtle graphic in a Finnish newspaper suggesting the game plan – but it seems the plan (and perhaps the bus) backfired.

Finland hosted the world and European champions in their Group I encounter tonight and sports newspaper Urheilu drew up coach Mixu Paatelainen’s tactics board for him.

After setting out Spain’s players in a 4-4-1-1 formation, the newspaper didn’t bother with the intricacies of a holding midfielder or false number nine for the hosts, instead shoving them into a double-decker bus.

However, it appears the Finnish team didn’t get the paper delivery this morning as they proceeded to lose 2-0 to goals from Jordi Alba and Alvaro Negredo.